Iron Chef America just keeps getting worse. Their new "twist" I guess is supposed to make it more interesting, but I just think it further contributes to subpar offerings. Now, the first dish always has to be served within 20 minutes and roughly around the 40 minute mark, they bring out a "culinary curveball" that the chefs must incorporate into a dish... either an ingredient or equipment.

I think one of the things that made the original Iron Chef so good (aside from the fact that the Iron Chefs were much much better) was that there was no artificial dish limit that had to be met. The chefs could focus on making one epic dish if they so chose, or many if they preferred. The result is more focused cooking instead of trying to stretch the ingredient across a predetermined number of dishes.

the wicked child wrote:Iron Chef America just keeps getting worse. Their new "twist" I guess is supposed to make it more interesting, but I just think it further contributes to subpar offerings. Now, the first dish always has to be served within 20 minutes and roughly around the 40 minute mark, they bring out a "culinary curveball" that the chefs must incorporate into a dish... either an ingredient or equipment.

I think one of the things that made the original Iron Chef so good (aside from the fact that the Iron Chefs were much much better) was that there was no artificial dish limit that had to be met. The chefs could focus on making one epic dish if they so chose, or many if they preferred. The result is more focused cooking instead of trying to stretch the ingredient across a predetermined number of dishes.

Agreed, but it's a nice antidote to Top Chef.No matter the drawbacks, the ideas of the chefs are always pretty high end.

the wicked child wrote:Iron Chef America just keeps getting worse. Their new "twist" I guess is supposed to make it more interesting, but I just think it further contributes to subpar offerings. Now, the first dish always has to be served within 20 minutes and roughly around the 40 minute mark, they bring out a "culinary curveball" that the chefs must incorporate into a dish... either an ingredient or equipment.

I think one of the things that made the original Iron Chef so good (aside from the fact that the Iron Chefs were much much better) was that there was no artificial dish limit that had to be met. The chefs could focus on making one epic dish if they so chose, or many if they preferred. The result is more focused cooking instead of trying to stretch the ingredient across a predetermined number of dishes.

Since the culinary curveball actually seems like a genuine "secret ingredient", I don't think it's a bad thing.